Indiana asks fans to go easy on Michigan State, reminds us these are still kids

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo speaks to the media after the 63-60 win over Indiana on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Video by Chris Solari/DFP

Michigan State Spartans guard Matt McQuaid (right) reacts to the bench after making a three point basket against the Indiana Hoosiers in the second half at Assembly Hall, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2018.(Photo: Aaron Doster, USA TODAY Sports)

That these are kids. College students. Some of them teenagers. And they have nothing to do with convicted child molester Larry Nassar or the fallout at Michigan State University.

The folks who run Indiana's athletic department sent out a memo urging their fan base to show some decency during Saturday night's game against the Spartans.

"We cheer and chant in a positive manner that does not belittle our opponents with degrading language and behavior," it read. "Especially today, our thoughts of support are with the survivors at Michigan State and nothing may be said or done to reference them in a negative way."

Michigan State Spartans guard Matt McQuaid (right) reacts to the bench after making a three point basket against the Indiana Hoosiers in the second half at Assembly Hall, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2018. Aaron Doster, USA TODAY Sports

Izzo has a lot to think about these days. At some point, he will have a lot to say, too. Just not yet, as he reiterated late Saturday night.

"I just think it's inappropriate for me to say anything right now," he said. "Our whole focus is really … as I'm trying to keep things on the up and up … our whole focus is on the healing process for the survivors, on the healing process for our university and our community and for me to coach our basketball team. So I don't have a date, but it will come sometime, I promise."

Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts from the bench against the Indiana Hoosiers in the first half at Assembly Hall, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018.(Photo: Aaron Doster, Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

This is more or less what he has said after the three games his team played since ESPN's Outside The Lines report suggested he was part of a larger problem at the school in the way it handled sexual assault.

The report has come under a lot of scrutiny recently. As it should have.

Mostly for conflating the actions of Nassar and inaction of his superiors at MSU with the school's football coach, Mark Dantonio, and with Izzo. There are other issues with what was reported. And some with what was not.

Yet those intricacies don't matter much to a fan base. It sees the headlines and the associations and can draw conclusions pretty easily. Conclusions that are black and white.

You can bet that's why Indiana's administration felt the need to warn its fan base. To urge them to take the high road.

Because it's easy to forget who is actually on the court: Kids.

Maybe not by age or by size or by fame. But, still, kids.

Kids who had nothing to do with Nassar or his enablers or the questions their coach is getting asked. Kids who signed up to play in rowdy arenas and signed up to get booed and signed up to deal with hecklers.

But there is "you suck." And then there is … well, use your imagination.

This is a lesson we'd all do well to remember as we watch and consume college sports. Especially now, as the revenue side of the equation — football and basketball — increasingly resembles a professional endeavor.

It is not. At least not from the perspective of its participants.

That can get lost when you watch your team on national television on a Saturday night. Or when you enter an arena that's had a $100 million makeover with glass and steel and sheen. Or when you swaddle yourself in the colors of your alma mater and sport jerseys stitched with the numbers of your favorite players and help buttress the whole enterprise with your cash.

All of which makes the consumption of nights like Saturday uneasy. Because the equation is tilted. Which is even more reason to remind ourselves … kids.

A reminder the Assembly Hall crowd took to heart, at least from my vantage point on press row. Not once did I hear an insult directed at MSU's players that linked them to Nassar or the heat Izzo has faced.

No chants. No lone shouters. No signs.

The decorum was a sign that even during a hotly contested Big Ten basketball game, civility is possible.

Said Izzo: "I take my hat off to them."

And whether you are a supporter of Izzo or not, it's hard to blame him for feeling grateful. As he said, he is still the coach, and he's leading a group of players that are feeling the weight of what has happened at MSU.

That's not fair, of course. That's also life.

Life made a little easier Saturday night by an opponent who called for empathy and humanity. A call we don't hear as often as we should.